Ding-dong the brace is gone. Which old brace? The horrible brace. Ding-dong the horrible old brace is gone!
You’ll hopefully excuse us a moment of frivolity (and a massacring of that Wizard of Oz classic) as we are still riding a high from Cassie’s newly discovered brace freedom! The days since have been some of our best in a long, long while — maybe since her cancer diagnosis. We have both been luxuriating in how much easier our lives are without the brace and the accompanying restrictions. Cassie can do things on her own. She can drive again. See her own feet. Walk with friends. Help with dishes and dinner prep (though her grabber is still in play) and sit in more than one chair in our house.
And it’s not just what she can do, it’s also how she can be.
The other morning Cassie was sitting on the couch, in front of the fire, drinking coffee and reading the news. Doc jumped up and joined her putting his head and front paws squarely in her laps for the first time in a LONG time. Cassie gave a huge sigh of contentment and said: “This is a dream come true.” And it was.
Whether quiet moments with Doc. An unencumbered hug. Taking walks on her own in the unexpected spring weather or the ability to easily hold a book, it’s the little things that we’ve noticed most. Maybe that’s because these are the things that are so easy to take for granted and overlook in our day-to-day lives? But they bring such joy and are SO restorative. We didn’t understand how much they mattered until they weren’t possible.
Sure there are hard things ahead. We have another scan coming up to see if the cancer is still growing (there always seems to be another scan). But we are not jumping ahead. We are waking up with smiles and lightness for the first time in what seems like forever. We are basking in new found freedom. We are hugging each other a lot. Mostly we are appreciating the little things and hopefully remembering to never again take them for granted.
